1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the field of stable semiconductor devices and circuits and is more particularly concerned with multi-terminal semiconductor structures having an abruptly switched transition in current-carrying capacity at predetermined threshold conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Controlled inversion bistable diode devices, which may take the form of two-terminal metal, non-linear resistor, semiconductor devices are known in the prior art, as will be further discussed. They have the capacity of being reliably and repeatably switched between two well-spaced impedance states, these semiconductor devices having an abruptly switchable transition in current carrying capacity at a temperature-stable threshold voltage. Use is made of the non-linear characteristics of a dielectric or resistive layer within the semiconductor device in a configuration that reliably balances the rate of injection of charges with respect to their rate of removal through the non-linear resistive layer over a wide range of temperatures. Relatively high currents may be rapidly switched, and in one form of the diode reliable switching may be repeatedly obtained at predetermined threshold values substantially independent of temperature.